German Wine Exports Rise

The past year was a good one for German wine exports. The German Wine Institute (DWI) is reporting that both volume and value of export wines grew by seven percent in a year-over-year comparison. In total, 2017 saw roughly 1.1 million hectoliters of wine, valued at 308 million euros, exported to 124 different countries. Average prices climbed by one cent to 2.89 €/l. Qualitätswein, which represented 71 percent of wine exports, were sold for 3.32 €/l on average, nine cents higher than in 2016.

The largest growth by volume came from German wine exports to Great Britain, a 28,000 hectoliter rise. That market is the fourth largest target of exports from Germany, and in 2017 accepted 121,000 hectoliters total, valued at 20 million euros (+27%). DWI Managing Director Monika Reule expressed tremendous pleasure in seeing the British market now trending upward, as it has long been a very tough one for German producers. Specialized wine dealers in particular reported notable success in selling wines from Germany’s wine regions.

German wines are also increasingly popular in Poland. The rising living standard there and growing catalog of German wines available at Polish supermarkets and wine dealers propelled export wine volumes by 54 percent in 2017, to 53,000 hectoliters valued at 12 million euros.

German wine exports to China also rose significantly (37 percent by value and 25 percent by volume). Thanks to an average price of 4.59 €/l, this growth market is also a notable revenue driver. With export revenues of 19 million euros, China stands in fifth place in the ranking of key export countries for German wines.

The USA remained the largest market again in 2017, followed by the Netherlands and Norway. The US market proved highly stable in the past year. With 79 million euros and average prices of 4.23 €/l, it was the target of roughly a quarter of German wine export revenue. Wine exports to the Netherlands grew by two percent to 167,000 hectoliters, with revenues remaining steady. Norway, where German wines are the undisputed market leader in the white wine segment, also posted a slight 2% revenue bump.

It remains to be seen whether German wine exports will continue these positive trends in the current year as well, with the DWI noting that relatively low harvest yields can be expected for the 2017 vintage.